Former West Indies and Durham all rounder Gareth Breese has been named head coach. Assistant coaches will be David Hemp, Aimee Rees and Dan Helesfay.

Breese replaces Mark O’Leary, who oversaw Fire last summer.

Welsh Fire’s first Women’s Competition home match is on Saturday 13 August with the visit of Birmingham Phoenix. Tickets for that and all Fire matches are on sale now – click here to buy.

Breese is currently England Women Performance Coach, and has been a part of the set-up since 2018. Former Glamorgan and Bermuda batter Hemp is the current head coach of the Pakistan women’s team.

Rees has worked extensively across the women’s game in Wales and remains with Welsh Fire for a second year. Helesfay is the senior regional talent manager at Western Storm.

Gareth Breese said:

"It’s a great opportunity and I am looking forward to being part of The Hundred and the Welsh Fire set-up. It is a hugely exciting competition, and the team will be looking to make an impact. This is going to be my first head coach role and I’m excited about the experiences this will bring, I can’t wait to meet everyone and get started.

"We’ve been able to put together a very strong coaching set-up and it’s a squad with a healthy mix of world-class cricketers and exciting potential. I’m sure all the players will be aiming to display their skills and in doing so thrill the Cardiff crowd and bring The Hundred trophy back to Wales."

Mark Wallace, Team Manager at Welsh Fire, said:

"We’re really excited with the coaching team we’ve been able to put together for the Welsh Fire women’s team. Gareth has a fantastic reputation in the game and has been part of a very successful England setup for a while now.

"All the coaches we have added have lots of experience coaching at the top of the women’s game with some of the best players in the world and will be huge assets for Welsh Fire."